


Stories of a Time Long Ago

by HerAwesomeShinyness



Category: The Silmarillion and other histories of Middle-Earth - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: Don't Try This At Home, F/F, F/M, Family Feels, Fluff, Foreshadowing, Gen, Humor, Light Angst, Nolofinwean Week 2019, Pre-Darkening, just a little bit, like just stupid and evil amounts of it, sometimes the dog is the smartest person in a given situation and that's not good, using fandom events to diffuse my dumb soft hcs, well mostly
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-05
Updated: 2019-08-10
Packaged: 2020-08-09 22:07:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 4,004
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20124604
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HerAwesomeShinyness/pseuds/HerAwesomeShinyness
Summary: In all times, in all places, children ask for stories. And who could be a better subject than the heroic House of Fingolfin?





	1. Chapter 1

Tell me a story?

Very well. What kind of story should it be?

Princes and princesses!

I don't know what I was expecting. As you wish. A long time ago, in a beautiful land far away, there lived a lady.

Was she beautiful too?

Immensely. But more than that, she was clever, and wise. So she spent a lot of time around the court of the king, learning and advising. One day, though, she noticed that the prince had been watching her.

No, don't look like that, not in a bad way! The prince, you see, was a young man, still shy when it came to new people, and he thought the lady very beautiful, and very intelligent and witty, and he was just too scared to talk to her!

Did the lady talk to him, then?

She did! And she told him it was a bit stupid of him to just look at her, and never make his interest known, and if he wanted her advice—remember, she was very good at giving advice—he should bring her four white roses, and ask her to dinner at her favourite restaurant.

Did he do that? He did, didn't he? You said he was shy, not stupid.

Indeed. He did just what she asked of him, and then, when they were done with dinner, he asked her if she would perhaps like four more roses, maybe even at a different restaurant.

And did she say yes?

She did. And then he asked again. And again. And again. Until eventually they ran out of restaurants!

So he asked her if she would perhaps like four more roses, maybe even in his home. And she said yes.

And then?

And then they kept having dinner, and liking each other, until one day he gave her a silver ring that looked like four roses wrapped around each other, and promised to love her forever.

That's how they got married?

It is. He also promised to always cook her dinner, because he'd figured out that she was always too tired after her work to do it herself, and that's why she always went to restaurants.

That's really sweet... Did he really love her forever?

Who knows, forever isn't over yet. Certainly he still loves her now.


	2. Chapter 2

Can you tell me another story?

Princes and princesses again?

Yes!

All right, so, a long time ago, in a beautiful land far away, there lived a prince. He wasn't a very important prince, because he had many older relatives, but he was a very charming one. He was always going about town, smiling at people, helping them with their small chores, and sometimes getting in trouble in harmless, funny ways. He would never say whether or not he did it on purpose, but certainly it made most people love him.

Was he related to the prince in your last story?

Yes, he was! In fact, he was that prince's eldest child.

Wow. With the lady?

With the lady. This prince loved his parents very dearly, and had heard the story of how they came to love each other many, many times. In fact, he could tell it in his sleep!

But this story is not about that.

What's it about then?

I don't know yet. Maybe it's about a secret. Maybe it's just a story with no meaning. I guess we'll have to find out.

Then tell it, please!

The young prince had a very dear friend. His cousin, who taught him many things, and brought him along on journeys across the land. They were inseparable, devoted to each other and their friendship and their adventures in a way seldom seen before or after.

But one day, when the prince went to knock at his cousin's door, nobody answered. Nobody! This made no sense at all, because his cousin would never go anywhere without warning him. So our prince was upset, horrified, even distraught!

Can you keep going with the story, please?

Oh, very well. So, he resolved to stay calm. Surely,  _ someone _ would know what had happened. And so, frantic, he–

Wait. I thought you said he resolved to stay calm? Why is he frantic?

Because he wasn't very good at staying calm, he never practiced the art. Anyway, frantic, he ran from one relative to the next, from one friend to another, in hopes of finding his cousin. But no one knew anything! They all told him the same things, "oh, I haven't seen him in a week," or, "I thought he was with you?" or, "maybe he finally found someone other than you to be friends with." That was his uncle, who didn't like him very much.

After a long time running to and fro across the city, he decided to go ask their grandfather, the king, who always seemed to know everything.

Then, as he opened the door to the king's study, guess who he found before him.

His cousin?

His cousin, who often went to help their grandfather with paperwork. Our prince, you must understand, was very forgetful sometimes. Still, he was incredibly upset and relieved at finding his best friend in such an obvious place, and told him, at length, all the troubles he had gone through to find him. When he was done, his cousin laughed, and laid a hand on his shoulder, and said, "my dear friend, you are a wonder, but sometimes I do not understand you. I left a note for you on my bedroom door, telling you where I was. Did you not see it?" 

He had, in fact, not seen it. Or actually, he'd seen the note, but he hadn't read it, in his hurry to find his friend again. And so, to save a few seconds on his quest, he had wasted  _ hours. _

That's so silly!

It is. Now let this be a lesson; always take a few seconds to think things through before you choose what to do, or you might find yourself running around for hours when you would have only needed to walk a few minutes.


	3. Chapter 3

Why are you looking at me like that? Do you want me to tell you another story?

Please? Oh! Maybe another one about the lady and the prince and their family?

Hmm. Yes, I can do that. Now, the second son the lady and the prince had was very similar in personality to how his father had been, when he was young. Very thoughtful and quiet and shy. So, when he saw a pretty lady one day, and wanted to talk to her, he took heart from the story of how his parents fell in love, and decided to give her a flower.

He noticed that she was a visitor to his city, so he knew that he would find her at the great fountain in the centre, because it was very beautiful, and famous through all the land, and everyone came to see it.

He had a very good plan, carefully laid out: he would walk up to her, and introduce himself, and ask her what she thought of the city, and of the fountain. Then, when she inevitably called them beautiful, he'd pull out his flower—the most colourful and delicate and elegant around—and say "but is it as gorgeous as this flower?" and then, whatever she answered, he'd say "but is it as beautiful as you?" and then he'd give her the flower, and thank her for her time, and leave. So as not to pressure her. And so he could go hyperventilate in a corner. He was also very anxious about most things, and had learned to plan for it.

Did it go well?

Yes and no. See, when he saw her, standing by the fountain, her hair so bright gold it seemed to glow, her smile shining like the stars, he started crying from how amazing she looked, and dropped the flower he'd brought with him, as all the strength went out of him.

So there he was, sitting in a corner of the city square, crying, when someone put a hand on his shoulder, and asked if he was alright.

Was it the pretty lady?

It was. She was even more beautiful up close, and more importantly, she was smiling kindly at him, honestly concerned at his distress, and all his fears vanished into nothing. He laughed, and told her all about how he'd seen her, and meant to pay her a compliment, and then got scared, and how she was even more amazing than he'd thought, and he said "now I feel foolish having brought you a flower, surely there is nothing that could compare to you in beauty and sweetness" and she laughed with him and answered "well, if you want to find out, I have some candy with me".

And he was so delighted that he was making his own cute story, that he didn't even notice when they spent the entire afternoon sitting by the fountain, laughing, talking, and laughing some more.

Aww. All these stories about people meeting and being adorable are so nice!

They are, aren't they?


	4. Chapter 4

Mother?

Yes, yes, a story, give me a second to think of one.

How did you–? Can it be another cute one?

But of course. Now, the two princes from our last stories, they had a sister. She was very daring, and adventurous, and a little bit foolish sometimes. She liked to roam far from the safe paths, explore, find things never seen before. Of course, the realm she lived in was guarded and protected so much, she would have been safe anywhere she went, so none of her adventures were ever really dangerous, but she liked to pretend they were, and certainly the things she saw were real and interesting and new.

She sounds amazing...

I'm sure she would have agreed with you. Now, one day, in her wanderings in the great forests of the land, she came across a strange clearing. Strange because all the maps she had ever seen claimed there should be a lake there, strange because it was blooming with flowers she had never seen before, and with flowers she knew didn't grow in that forest. Strange because someone was sitting in it, talking to the plants.

For a moment she was dumbstruck. The strange person in the clearing was a woman, but clearly one that was unnaturally tall, with long and delicate limbs that seemed very nearly the colour of newly budding leaves—though she was sure that was because of the light coming through the leaves—and with strangely curling pink hair!

Pink?

Yes. Well, pink and purple and red and orange and white and another infinite amount of shades, as many as there were blooms on the ground beside her.

The woman looked up as soon as the princess stepped into the clearing, and her eyes were like the sun in spring, like the coldest pools under the trees, ancient and ever-changing. You need to remember this, for that is what the eyes of the Valar look like, and it is always useful to recognise them.

The woman was a Vala?

She was. She was Vana the Ever-Young, the lady of flowers and spring. And she recognised the princess, and praised her for having found her secret clearing, and bid her walk with her.

They spent long wandering the forest together, hand in hand, seeing great wonders and small secrets, and everything in between; but eventually, Lady Vana led the princess to the edge of the forest, and kissed her fingers, and said "this has been a delightful way to spend my time, dearest. I beg you, come visit soon"

And did she?

Oh, she did. And they were very happy with their arrangement.

That sounds nice. Maybe a less schmoopy story next time?

I thought you  _ liked _ the cute ones. Oh, whatever you want.


	5. Chapter 5

Now, I believe someone wanted a non-schmoopy story?

Yes! 

All right, I'll do my best. 

The princes and princess from the last few stories had one more brother, the youngest of them, a young man as quick in making decisions as in carrying them out. Some might even call him impulsive.

The young prince didn't understand all the importance his older brothers put on romance, but he also didn't understand his sister's desire to explore and adventure. Surely, he thought, one might find out more about the world without having to traipse across the continent, in the middle of fake dangers.

So...find out how it works?

Exactly! Yes, that was just what he wanted to do. Instead of seeing more of the world, he wanted to see what it was made of, and how it worked, and all such tiny little details.

This was already a common field of study among his people, because they thought that knowing such things would help them in their crafts and creations, so the young prince had as many teachers at his disposal as he could ever dream of.

Very quickly, he became a highly accomplished chemist, despite his young age, and was even asked by his mentor to help teach, sometimes. Which he of course agreed to, as that was a great honour.

I can imagine, that sounds so impressive!

It does, doesn't it? Well, the first few lessons went wonderfully, but then, as they were working with dry ice–

What's that?

I'm not sure I understand it myself, to be quite honest, but it's something other than frozen water, and far–far colder. And more dangerous, of course.

Now, as I was saying, they were working with dry ice, when our young prince noticed something: one of the canisters they were working from was about to tip over and fall on one of the students!

So, remembering how dangerous such a thing might be, he–he ran forward, to the end in the classroom, and. And...

And then what happened?

I–I'm sorry, I can't seem to remember. It was a very funny story, certainly, I loved it every time I heard it told, but–

Oh. Well, then you can try and tell it again when you do remember!

I shall do my best. Goodnight, my dear.


	6. Chapter 6

Are you feeling better today? 

What–? Oh, last time. Yes, thank you for asking.

So...?

Yes, yes! A story!

A very long time ago, in a beautiful land far away, there lived a little princess. She was about your age, in fact. Her people were in turmoil in those days, but she didn't know anything about it, because she was sweet and kind and everyone loved her, whatever their other opinions.

The thing she loved most was to play in the city gardens, throwing her favourite ball around, and laughing every time some passer-by threw it back before she could get to it, which was often.

One day, two familiar figures appeared: one of her many uncles, and his dog. The little princess was overjoyed, for she had wanted to play with the dog, who was wonderfully large and friendly, since the first time she'd seen him.

A really large dog? That sounds kind of scary.

She was, in fact, a little bit scared. But she knew he was an incredibly gentle dog, and she _ really _ wanted to play with him, so she gathered up all her courage and gently tossed her ball in his direction.

Instantly, both dog and cousin jumped towards the ball! And  _ ran _ across the grass towards it, as fast as anyone.

Her cousin too?

He got along very well with his dog. Now. The dog managed to catch the ball, and the two ran back to the little princess to give it back to her, and found get laughing and laughing at how her royal cousin had forgotten for a second he was an elf, and raced his dog to a thrown ball. She thought he might be horribly offended, so she stopped the second she saw him approach, but like the rest of the land, he loved her dearly. And, more importantly, loved chasing things dearly. So he laughed with her, and asked her to throw the ball again, so he and his friend could race after it some more.

And did she?

Of course! In fact, the three of them were nearly tireless, and spent hours and hours playing. The little princess would sometimes throw the ball, sometimes run after it, sometimes run holding it, trying not to be caught...every time they got bored with their game, they came up with something new.

Oh wow. That sounds like so much more fun than anything f–I mean–Um. It sounds like a lot of fun!

It does, doesn't it? Now, back to the story: at one point, as they had been throwing the ball to each other, the dog, being a dog, hit it wrong, and the princess's bright blue ball went flying off into a tree.

I know! It was a  _ tragedy! _ In fact, it was even worse than you think, because it had gotten stuck on a high branch of a tall, smooth tree, nearly impossible to climb, so there was no hope of getting up to it.

Oh no!

The princess was very small, remember, she was about your age, and the dog was a dog, so even if he'd had a plan he wouldn't have been able to share it, and the cousin wasn't very good at problem solving in a constructive manner, so they had absolutely no hope.

The little princess, however, was not willing to be deterred so she sat down, and thought, and thought, and thought, and promised to herself that she wouldn't stop until she could figure out how to rescue her ball.

The cousin, who wasn't interested in waiting for a good plan, decided to start throwing rocks, and branches, and other random debris, in the hope that something might dislodge the ball. But nothing worked! It all just bounced off, and fell back in his face! He was getting angrier and angrier, especially since the dog was starting to really laugh at him, when he had an idea.

Obviously, what he needed to do was to throw something so heavy that its impact would dislodge the ball from its branchy home, and then it wouldn't matter if it bounced or not, the ball would fall down. But what to throw? There weren't any heavy rocks in the garden, that would be dangerous, and to be absolutely sure, he wanted to throw the heaviest thing he could throw that high, so something about as heavy as a small child.

Oh no.

So you've seen where this is going, have you? Yes, that's exactly what he decided to do. The little princess wasn't exactly convinced, but she trusted her cousin to–well no. She trusted the dog to catch her if necessary, so she agreed to being thrown at the ball. Because she loved it very much, and didn't want to risk losing it.

It all went perfectly; her cousin had great aim, and she hit the ball with exactly the right force and direction to make it fly out of the tree in a beautiful arc, and the dog ran after it, so it wouldn't get caught anywhere else, then the little princess curled herself into a ball and prepared to be caught after she fell back down.

Except...she wasn't? 

In fact, she didn't seem to be falling.

She got stuck in the tree?

She got stuck in the tree. But she was a clever girl, and she knew her cousin was ready to catch her, so she got herself unstuck from the branches, and aimed very carefully at him, who was standing under the tree with his arms wide open, staring up at her.

Now. Let's change the perspective of the story.

The princess's father, worried because she hadn't come home on time, had just arrived at the park, assuming she'd lost track of time while playing.

He saw her ball bouncing along the ground, far more than it could when she threw it, and his cousin's dog chasing after it, so he worried a bit, as he didn't get along very well with him, and didn't much like the idea of him playing with his daughter.

Then he ran around a corner, and he realised he hadn't been worrying enough. Can you guess what he saw?

The little princess jumping out of the tree?

That's exactly it.

The princess shouted from glee at the feeling of flying through the air. Her father screamed in horror. The dog tried to bark, muffled by the ball in his mouth.

The cousin screamed, because the princess had jumped out of a very tall tree, and landed straight on his chest. And even a little girl hurts, when she hits you that hard.

Was he all right?

He'd already broken enough bones in his life that they were resistant to such things, thankfully, but his cousin, the princess's father, was so upset at what had happened that he refused to ever let them be in the same room without his supervision ever again.

Now, what can we learn from this?

To not solve problems by throwing people?

Ha! That's certainly a good lesson. I was thinking more along the lines of not letting the people around you who are bad at solving problems be the ones in charge of the situation, but yours is even better.

Yours is also good, Amme, don't worry.

Aw, thank you. Now it's time for bed, though.

Goodnight, I love you!

Love you too.


	7. Chapter 7

"And that's our family?" he asks, as soon as she's tucked him into bed.

"That's our family. See? They're not at all mystical and strange. They're just people."

"And I'll get to meet them someday?" It's a foolish hope, he knows, but they all sound so nice and so  _ fun _ .

"Of course you will, my Lomion. And they'll love you just as much as I do."

Her voice shakes just a bit. He's smart enough to recognise that, but it's a useless skill if he can't tell what she's lying about. Still, it would be really amazing if it were true.

"Can you tell me another story about them?" he asks. She's going to say no, but it always makes her smile, so he always asks 

"No, Lomi, I'm sorry," she says, just like he expected, "it's getting late, and your father was supposed to come back today. And we wouldn't want him to find out I've been keeping you up past your bedtime, now do we?"

She laughs as she says it, and taps on his nose, which means he should listen, so he pulls the covers all the way up to his chin and rolls over on his side. It's not like his father would care anyway, but it makes her happy to pretend he does.

"Goodnight, Amme."

"Goodnight, my Lomion," she answers, before sweeping some hair that had fallen onto his face behind his ear, kissing him on the forehead, and leaving.

At the door she pauses, the light from the candle in her hand piercing, and smiles at him.

"You know that if you want me to stay I will, right?"

"I know, I know. I love you." She always says that, it's not like he needs the reminder, he knows she'll always be there when he needs her.

Still, it's a nice reminder.

The door closes, and darkness falls. It would be scary, but it's not really. He can still see, a bit, and Amme is just beyond the door, and she loves him.

And one day, she'll take him to meet all her family, from the clever prince—king now—to his cousin, the little princess. And she'll tell them all about him, and they'll be a family for real.

She'll be happy all the time then, when she's with her family, and he'll be happy right along with her.


End file.
